Arverne Teen Dies In Fiery Stolen Car Crash

By Howard Schwach

Alocal teen was killed and two others were injured when their speeding automobile, stolen from Brooklyn the previous day, crashed into a concrete pillar supporting the ATrain subway line at about 8:25 a.m. on Wednesday, police say.

The 2007 Honda sedan in which a local teen died sits at the 100 Precinct shortly after the crash. Police say that the driver of the stolen car was speeding and may have passed a red light under the elevated subway structure before he lost control and crashed into a pillar. Photo by Nick Briano. According to eyewitnesses, the automobile was heading east on the Rockaway Freeway, a road that runs under the elevated subway line, at about 50 miles per hour and had just run a red light when the 16-year-old driver, identified by police as Malcolm Wyse, lost control and plowed into the heavy, unmovable pillar at Beach 101 Street.

Sources say that local residents rushed to pull the three people from the blue 2007 Honda Fit, which was set on fire by the crash.

One resident who lives near the crash scene pulled her garden hose to the car and began to pour water on the fire. Some residents brought garbage pails full of water to the burning car in an attempt to put out the fire.

The scene of the crash, at Rockaway Freeway and Beach 101 Street. "We tried everything," one local told reporters at the scene.

Others attempted to pull the teens from the burning car, managing to get the passenger in the rear seat out, but not the two in the front. They were extricated by firefighters and EMT's, eyewitnesses say.

Local sources say that the quick action on the part of local residents may have saved the lives of the two teens who were rescued from the car.

Wyse, who suffered burns, and the 15-year-old backseat passenger, Marcus Pike, who suffered a broken leg and later needed surgery, were officially listed in stable condition at Jamaica Hospital on Wednesday night. An unofficial source told The Wave Thursday afternoon, however, that Wyse, may have succombed, but there is no confirmation of that contention.

The front seat passenger, who took the brunt of the crash into the concrete pillar, was identified by the police as Dashawn Davis, 17, of 51-45 Almeda Avenue, an address in the Edgemere Houses in Arverne.

Davis was transported to the Peninsula Hospital Center with injuries due to the crash as well as burns over much of his body.

"He was in extremely critical condition from the moment he was brought in," said Liz Sulik, a spokesperson for the hospital.

Sources say that he died between 4 and 5 p.m. at PHC.

Police say that the car had been stolen on Tuesday in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.

The driver of the stolen vehicle, Wyse, is reportedly a student at Boys and Girls High School in Brooklyn. The other two were identified as Beach Channel High School Students.

The surviving teens are expected to be arrested for their part in stealing the car, but a spokesperson for Queens District Attorney Richard Brown told The Wave on Thursday morning that there was no determination as to when the arrest and arraignment would be completed.

Although a reliable individual told me on Thursday that Mr. Wyse succombed to his injuries, others told me yesterday that he remains hospitalized. Several individuals have told me, however, that his name was incorrectly reported in the press as Malcom rather than Malik.